Of Shields and Secrets
by Kiwi Lee Scipio
Summary: Switch kwamis, secrets relieved, and a conflicted romance.
1. Chapter 1

Part 1: Through A Bug's Eyes

Chapter 1

…n'ayant alors pas encore adopté le calendrier grégorien, la date de naissance d'Isaac Newton est enregistrée en date du-_**RING.**_

__Marinette looked up at the clock on the wall to see it had all of a sudden gotten to the end of the day. Panic set in as she tried to quickly finish writing down her notes.

"Don't forget, you need to have all of chapter 8 read before tomorrow's class," Ms. Mendeleiev said, raising her voice over the sound of her students packing their bags from the end of the day. As a few stood up and rushed towards the door, she called out, "Tomorrow we'll be using what you learned!"

Marinette quickly wrote down the date of Christmas, 1642, in her tablet and clicked save before tuning the screen off.

"Are you coming, Marinette?" Rose asked, startling Marinette into flinging her tablet and pen out in front of her.

Marinette let out an embarrassed squeak as the device hit Adrien in the back, falling into his seat. She quickly covered her mouth as the blonde haired wonder turned around, confusion on his face.

Adrien's face quickly turned to a soft smile as he realized what had happened. He picked up her tablet and pen and put them on her desk. He gave her a smile, letting her stare at him for a moment, before turning to Rose and Juleka to ask, "Are you going somewhere?"

"Oh right, you had to run out for a shoot during lunch," Nino said, placing a hand on Adrien's shoulder. "There's this new shop opening up across the river."

"It's supposed to have the newest and cutest stuff from Japan," Rose said, her hands at her cheeks.

"It's also supposed to have some wicked action figures and video games not released over here yet," Nino added.

"That sounds cool," Marinette said as she quickly threw her belongings back in her bag. Her hand rested on a stray piece of paper and pulled it out only to see a list. "Oh no, I'll have to come some other time."

"What is that?" Alya asked, leaning over her friend's shoulder to look at the piece of paper. "Your parents are making you go grocery shopping?"

"They're super busy with this thing tonight," Marinette admitted, standing up so she could throw her bag on her back. The six started walking out of the now mostly empty classroom as she added, "It's so secretive, they're not even telling me who it's for."

"Maybe Chat Noir finally asked Ladybug and entrusted your family to keep it secret until the big dinner reveal," Alya said, whipping out her phone.

"Aw, wouldn't that be adorable," Rose said, a day dreamy look taking over her features.

"Announce what? They're our age, right?" Marinette asked.

"Maybe they don't have long to live," Juleka offered. "Superpowers can mess with heroes' health."

Marinette led the way down the steps and turned away from her family's business. "You all have fun going to that new shop. I better get going to Monoprix."

"I'll join you," Adrien offered, freezing Marinette in her tracks.

"We'll all go, girlfriend," Alya said, wrapping her arm around Marinette's shoulders, knocking her attention from Adrien. "Maybe we can finish your grocery shopping in enough time to hit the place on the way back."

"Yeah, sure, gives me more time to procrastinate on my homework," Nino said with a smile.

"Oh, you don't have to," Marinette said only to find herself being pulled by Alya as the group headed towards the school's left.

Alya took the list from her friend's hands and eyed it. "Your mom does realize she put eggs on the list."

"They had to take the house eggs for whatever they're working on," Marinette explained.

"It'll be fun," Adrien offered, appearing beside Marinette. She jumped only slightly, getting a giggle from Alya as she took her arm off of Marinette's shoulder, as Adrien continued, "Besides, I've never been to a supermarket before."

"What? Really?" Marinette asked out of surprise.

"Never needed to," Adrien said with a shrug, turning to look where they were walking as the sidewalks stared to get busy. "My father's always had our groceries delivered."

"Speaking of him, I'm surprised he gave you some free time after school today," Marinette pointed out. "Doesn't he normally want you home for din-" she quickly cut herself off, realizing she shouldn't know Adrien's schedule so well. Scrambling her mind she spit out, "I mean, your body guard is always waiting for you at the school gate so I just assumed…"

Adrien gave her a smile as her flustered brain stalled. "He's throwing a dinner party tonight for some important people," Adrien admitted. "That's who your parents are catering tonight, though why they didn't tell you is strange."

"Maybe your father asked them to not tell anybody," Marinette said with a shrug, wondering the same.

"But anyway, he said I didn't have to come home until 6."

"So where's your bodyguard?" Marinette asked, looking around for the silver car.

A smile grew on the teen's face. "He was needed to help prepare the ball room." He looked over at Marinette and added, "First time my father's let me have an hour to myself."

"Now I really feel bad for making you join me to Monoprix," Marinette mumbled, glancing over her shoulder to see Alya showing Nino, Rose, and Juleka the latest Ladyblog video.

"Don't be," Adrien tried.

Marinette turned her attention back to the boy beside her only to get lost in the smile he gave her.

Adrien's smile quickly disappeared as he reached over and grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the way of a large group of tourists. Marinette lost her balance and fell into Adrien's chest.

"Marinette!" Alya exclaimed, noticing her friend's accident.

Adrien grabbed both of Marinette's shoulders and helped her to her feet, worry on his face. "Are you okay?"

Marinette looked up at him and smiled, "He, he, yeah, I'm alright."

"You've gotta remember it's tourist season, dude," Nino pointed out as Adrien released the girl's shoulders.

"Sometimes I wish they wouldn't come here for their vacation," Juleka admitted.

"But if they didn't, than neither would most of us be here or even be friends now," Rose offered.

"I wouldn't trade our friendship for anything," Nino said, somehow managing to separate Marinette in-between Alya and Adrien to wrap an arm around them so that his other arm was around Rose and Juleka.

Alya let out a laugh, the first to break out of the group hug. "Come on, Monoprix is just across the street."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Okay, eggs, milk, cheese, chips, cocoa, apples, oranges, kiwis, bread," Marinette said, going through the list with what her friends were caring for her. "All that's left is yogurt."

"I think I saw some by the milk," Rose offered, holding tight to the bread loaf.

"Ouff!" Alya exclaimed, someone bumping into her back and pushing her forward. She caught her footing and turned to exclaim, "Hey! Watch where you're going!"

A girl only just out of school dressed in the Monoprix uniform looked back at the group of six, an apologetic look on her face as she held a cordless phone to her ear. "Yes, I'm sorry. We do," she said to the person on the other end of the phone call as she turned back to watch where she was going.

Marinette found herself watching the girl only a few years older than herself pick up some cloths a customer had discarded in the aisle of cookies. She threw the cloths over her shoulder as she continued down the aisle, biting her bottom lip as the male voice yelled at her from the other end of the phone.

"Marinette, are you coming?" Alya asked.

"Huh?" Marinette asked, watching the girl go around the corner before turning back to her friends. "Yeah."

-.-.-.-

Butterflies flew around in the small space they had been drawn to and captured in as a human form rose up from the floor.

"Nooroo, darkwings on," the man ordered, the butterflies drawn to his body by the magic he released. The man flicked out his cane to his side as the large window opened, letting light enter the small space. "An over worked employee in a bustling tourist town, oh the abundance of emotions emitting from her poor twisted heart," Hawkmoth said, sensing the strongest of the emotions within his city of Paris. He held out a hand, ordering a butterfly to land as he said, "Perfect for my little akuma." He encased the white butterfly in his hands, collecting his magic into the little bug until it had his plans encoded in its now dark wings. Releasing the butterfly, he bit it farewell, "Flyaway my little akuma and evilize this hardening heart."

The dark winged butterfly flew through the window and over Paris, following the strong feeling its master ordered it to find. It flew down into the busy streets and found an easy way into the supermarket, following a patron into the building. It flew over aisles of groceries, making its way to the back of the building. Squeezing under a closed door it found the girl sitting in the employee's break room, the work phone clutched in her hand as tears of frustration fell from her eyes.

The akuma found a home in the inner workings of the work phone, giving Hawkmoth a direct telepathic link with the girl. A purple outline of a butterfly appeared over the girl's brown eyes as her tears instantly evaporated.

"Bouclier, I am Hawkmoth," the man said, his voice reaching her ears only. "No longer will you be pushed around by those inconsiderate of your presences. With this I give you the power to push those who have hurt you away. In return, you must bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous."

"With pleasure, Hawkmoth," Bouclier said, rising to her feet. The purple and black magic contained in the work phone took her acceptance, covering her complete body.

AN: You may not like how short this chapter ended up but wait until the chapter I couldn't figure out how to end!

ADRIEN: Was that supposed to be creepy?

AN: Maybe?

AN: Wanted to put down here; Guest D, thank you so much for pointing out to me that I was spelling her name wrong. Hopefully I've found and fixed all of them now. Also I guess it was kinda stupid to make it so that Marinette's parents couldn't tell her but Gabriel had to have more measures of security for who will be there so he had to ask everyone working and attending to not advertise what the event was in the first place. Tom and Sabine took that as to not tell their daughter in case she mentioned it to her friends and word got to Chloé which would mean the world would find out.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Vanilla is always good," Adrien offered as the six found the cabinet holding the yogurts.

"You like just plain vanilla?" Alya asked, picking up one of the flavored yogurts.

"What's wrong with just vanilla?" Marinette asked, defending Adrien's choice as she picked up one of the plain cups of yogurt.

"Sometimes I just like basic vanilla," Adrien offered with a shrug.

A door slammed open, drawing Marinette's attention away from the yogurts. A woman dressed in a black and purple plaid skirt with a black collared shirt stood in the doorway, one hand clutching a phone as the other held the door open. Her eyes locked onto the six teens as a scowl appeared on her chocolate skin. "I am the Bouclier," she announced, raising up the hand holding the phone to point it at them. "I command you to be pushed away!"

A purple electric shield emitted from the phone's speaker, only a second's warning before Marinette felt the floor ripped out from under her. Something made contact with her back before the group of teens were slammed into a wall. Her sight went dark as her lungs gasped for air that just wasn't there.

Movement under her jacket made a part of her mind realize Tikki must have gotten knocked away but her fight for air overtook the thought as she was finally able to gasp in a ragged breath. She managed to open her eyes only to find herself being pulled up to her feet by Alya, the girl speaking words that she couldn't understand.

Motion out of the corner of her eye turned her attention to the remains of Monoprix. Ceiling tiles had evaporated from their place in the ceiling, lights hung from wires below where they were supposed to be, aisles and merchandise were flung around as if a mini tornado had blown through.

"Get out!" the Bouclier's voice ordered, filtering through Marinette's foggy mind just before the akumitized girl let out another shield of purple energy to cause more carnage and destruction.

"Come on, Marinette! We've gotta get out!" Alya ordered, pulling the arm she still had a hold on.

Marinette found herself pulled behind Alya, the girl following Adrien who was helping Nino carry Rose. "Juleka?" Marinette asked, her mouth only asking half the question she had intended. Screams from others that had gotten trapped in the store slowly filtering into her brain, the fog lifting.

"In the lead," Alya said, getting Marinette to notice the dark girl finding the best path for them all to escape the damaged Monoprix.

"I want you all out!"

Marinette turned at how close the akumatized voice sounded only to be blasted into Alya's back as they crashed through the wall and out into the street. Marinette lost hold of her friend's hand as she tumbled across the street, only stopping when she hit the side of a parked car. Holding her shoulder, where she had made impact with the poor Renault, Marinette forced herself to her feet. She found Alya starting to push herself up from where she had landed, the girl facing away from her, and took this as her chance. She'd be of more help as Ladybug than just Marinette Dupain-Chang. Marinette ran away, heading for the first alley way out of sight and reached for her purse only to find it missing.

"Tikki!" Marinette exclaimed, panic filling her until she remembered the feeling of a Kwami under her jacket. She lifted the gray jacket away from herself and said, "Tikki, are you alright?"

"Uhm, opps," a male voice said as Plagg appeared out from her jacket.

"Plagg!? How'd you end up with me?" Marinette asked, surprised.

"I have no idea," Plagg admitted as a crash took his attention to beyond the ally way. "But I don't think there's time to fix it."

"Can I even transform with you?" Marinette asked, furling her brows at the strange cat-like kwami.

Plagg looked at her before shrugging his shoulders. "Worst you could do is not try. Say, 'Plagg, claws out'."

Marinette studied him a moment, debating if it really was a good idea to mix the magic of Ladybug with Chat Noir's. The ground beneath her feet shook, taking her concentration away with her balance. She fell to her hands and knees, finding herself staring at the broken cobblestone below her. As the ground ceased to shake, she looked up and saw Plagg floating there. The small black kawmi stared out at the street, watching as the akumatized girl created more shields and destroyed more of Paris.

"Alright," Marinette said, getting the kwami she'd only talked to once before to turn and face her as she got to her feet. She gripped her hands in firsts at her side, closing her eyes as she ordered, "Plagg, claws out!"

The small kwami was sucked into her earring, the magic stinging more than it usually did, border lining on painful as the magic covered her whole body. Only once the stinging stopped did she dare open her eyes to look down at herself. Instead of her usual red and black suit she stood in an all black skintight suit. She twisted around, catching sight of a black leather tail and Chat Noir's metal retracting staff just above it. She patted her head, not sure what to expect only to find ears. They felt like leather but she could feel them being touched.

A scream took her attention away from the change to her costume, getting her to instantly reach for the yo-yo that was always at her waist only to grab nothing but air. She looked down at her hip, trying to remind herself Chat Noir didn't have a yo-yo. She grabbed the staff off her back and used it to pole vault upwards, trying to understand how Chat Noir used it to get around.

Ladybug stole a glance down at the ground, quickly taking in the now destroyed Monoprix and its neighboring buildings. She dropped down in front of the building's remains, looking for the friends she had to abandon to make sure they were alright. Quickly she found Alya, the girl looking around only to stop on her costumed friend. "Ladybug!" Alya exclaimed, pushing back the hair that had fallen in front of her face. "What happened to your powers?"

Ladybug shook her head slightly, opening her mouth to offer an explanation to the girl only to be interrupted.

"Have you found Marinette?"

Quickly changing gears, Ladybug offered, "She seemed a bit shaken up so I helped her to an ambulance. Is there anyone else you know missing?" She looked around, seeing people sitting on the ground as EMTs started to check people over.

Alya shook her head. "We got split up. I don't know."

"What happened?" Ladybug asked, trying to look like she was just taking in the damage as she turned around. Even with her knowledge it was hard to track which way the akumatized woman had gone.

"I guess a worker got akumatized, she headed towards the river," Alya said, pointing in the direction where the Eiffel tower could be seen poking out above the wreckage.

Ladybug extended her staff downwards and pole vaulted herself upwards. She aimed herself towards the Seine, keeping an eye out for the Bouclier. A strange sent line appeared to her senses, getting her to realize it was one of Chat Noir's powers. She followed it, quickly finding the creator of the destruction standing on the bridge to one of the many islands situated on the Seine.

Ladybug dropped to her feet on a remaining roof and looked down, studying what Bouclier was doing as the woman created a shield from the phone to destroy the large church and its surrounding buildings.

"There you are ma'lady," Chat Noir said as someone landed on the roof behind her.

Ladybug turned around to see Chat Noir's normal shaggy blonde hair, his eyes hidden behind a red and black mask instead of his normal black one. Quickly she took in his body, it strange to see her ladybug suit with a zipper down the front, the collar still holding his signature bell. In his hands was her yo-yo as he quickly strapped it around his waist.

Ladybug froze, the realization of how this happened to them appearing in her mind. Chat Noir had to have been in Monoprix with her, and close to her when they were pushed away by Bouclier.

"Are you okay?" Chat Noir asked, worry in his green eyes.

Ladybug shook her mind of the thoughts, reminding herself they weren't supposed to know each other's identities. She looked back at Bouclier, the woman about to wipe out the last building on the island before creating a shield to jump on and ride to the other side of the Seine. "Come on, the akuma's in her phone," Ladybug said, holding onto the staff with both hands before pole vaulting up into the air. Getting enough air, she shrunk the staff to her height and spun it above her head to keep her momentum while slowing her decent. Losing altitude, she pole vaulted again, repeating her actions to fly across the island.

"So are you still going by Ladybug?" Chat Noir sked, swinging off of what was left standing. "You could be Cat woman, or Chatte Noire."

"What, do you really want to be called Ladybug?" Ladybug asked, looking down to see him swinging below her.

"You could call me Coccinil," Chat Noir offered.

Ladybug rolled her eyes, not sure how to take the overly confident teen's idea. "Just call me Ladybug. Hopefully after this gets fixed our kwamis can go back to their true person."

AN: I would love to see this happen in the show.

ADRIEN: Just letting you know, coccinil is ladybug in French.

AN: What, afraid people will think you're trying to be named after the purse? Also by the way, Bouclier is French for shield.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Ladybug led Chat Noir around the raging akumatized woman, managing to get to the park around the Eiffel tower before her. Ladybug dropped to the ground, shadowed by the large structure, as Chat Noir landed beside her.

"So what's the plan?" Chat Noir asked, retracting the yo-yo into itself to hold it in his right hand.

"Trap her," Ladybug admitted, looking around for some ideas. She looked back at the Eiffel tower and said, "I'll lead her up to the second platform. I need you to be ready to catch her with your yo-yo." She pointed the staff to the ground, getting ready to push off, only to get stopped.

"Why don't I just use your lucky charm?" Chat Noir asked.

Ladybug shook her head. "We don't even know if it would work right. Transforming wasn't even all that pleasant," Ladybug pointed out. Before he could say anything else, she quickly pole vaulted away, seeing him turn around and throw the yo-yo up the Eiffel tower out of the corner of her eye.

Using Chat Noir's senses, she quickly found Bouclier making her way through the Place du Trocadéro. Ladybug quickly pole vaulted over the Seine, making quick time with Chat Noir's strange mode of transportation.

"Get out of my town!" Bouclier ordered, creating a shield to push into the Musée National de la Marine.

"Paris is for everyone!" Ladybug exclaimed as she dropped to her feet beside the purple and black dressed woman.

"Get out of here, Ladybug!" Bouclier ordered as Hawkmoth's butterfly appeared over her eyes.

_Now! While he's communicating with her!_ Ladybug realized, extending the staff above her height. She quickly swung it around, whipping it at Bouclier's knees to force her down.

As Bouclier made contact with the ground, the butterfly over her eyes disappeared. She quickly pushed herself back up to her feet, her free hand in a fist. "Give me your miraculous so I can banish you from my town," Bouclier ordered, pointing the phone towards Ladybug.

Ladybug glanced back at the Eiffel tower, seeing Chat Noir positioned on the second landing. She smiled at Bouclier, side flipping around the shield send her way. She landed on her feet, holding the staff with both hands and said, "Come catch me then." Quickly she shot upwards, retracting the staff so she could use it as a type of propeller. She stole a glance back at Bouclier, seeing her create a shield along the ground to use as a floating disk.

Ladybug quickly pole vaulted again, worried Bouclier would create a shield to knock the staff out from under her only to be able to safely retract it and continue across the Seine. She glance down at the akumatized woman as a smile pulled at her lips.

"Get back here, Ladybug!" Bouclier exclaimed before the sound of breaking stones reached Ladybug's ears.

Ladybug looked down once more only to stop spinning the staff and drop to the ground quickly as Bouclier had propelled herself up into the air, leaving a crater in the bridge. Ladybug quickly turned back to the Eiffel tower, guessing she only had two more pole vaults to reach Chat Noir, using one now.

Flying through the air, Ladybug quickly used up her last pole vault, aiming for the platform Chat Noir stood on only to notice a panicked look on his face.

"Ladybug! Behind you!"

Ladybug started to turn around only to feel a shield make contact with her back, pushing her into one of the legs of the Eiffel tower. Quickly coming to her senses, she grabbed at the metal with her claws and pulled herself up. The sight of a purple shield coming at her got her dodging to the side. By the time she had managed to go up about four of her own body height, dodging more projectile shields, the familiar sound of a yo-yo string caught her attention. She looked up, pulling herself up farther on the leg of the large structure, to see Chat Noir jumping off the platform.

Chat Noir swung down and grabbed hold of Ladybug around the waist as a shield projectile impacted with the space she had just occupied moments ago.

Ladybug held onto Chat Noir as he swung them back up to the platform. He looked down at her, a smile growing on his face, as they landed on the platform. "My little bug-a-boo's turned into a cute little kitty noir," Chat Noir said, retracting the yo-yo's string.

Ladybug rolled her eyes, pushing away from his embrace. "Is that all you do all day? Come up with weird nicknames?" she asked as she took the step to look down. Not giving him a moment to answer, she quickly stepped back and exclaimed, "She's coming up!"

Bouclier stepped onto the top of the fence preventing people from falling, disintegrating the shield she had road up on. "I want you to out of my town!" she ordered, pointing the hand holding the phone down at the two super heroes.

Ladybug dived to her right as Chat Noir went opposite, the two just missing getting hit by the shield that punched a hole in the metal floor. She landed on the balls of her feet and a hand as a scary plan formed in her mind. She looked over at Chat Noir to find him using her yo-yo as a counter shield against the shields being thrown at him. Ladybug jumped over to him, sailing over the hole, and whipped out the staff, twirling it to cover him. "She can't create more than one shield at a time," Ladybug offered as she quickly jerked her body towards the right to catch a shield trying to pass her. She took a breath, praying nothing would go wrong before turning to look Chat Noir in his strangely normal green eyes. "Use your Lucky Charm," Ladybug ordered.

"But you said it might be dangerous," Chat Noir pointed out.

"I don't have any more ideas," Ladybug admitted, fear building up inside her.

Chat Noir studied her face a moment before nodding his head. He flicked out the yo-yo and flung it upwards, calling out, "Lucky charm!"

Ladybug forced herself to keep her eyes on the villain in front of her, worry creeping onto her face as Bouclier started stepping closer. She wanted to know what the lucky charm had given Chat Noir but couldn't turn to look back again.

An indecisive sound came from Chat Noir, getting Ladybug to ask, "What did it give you?"

"Um," Chat Noir gave her, forcing her curiosity to get the better of her.

Keeping her hands moving, Ladybug looked over her shoulder only to see what looked like half of a pillow, black feathers flying away in the breeze. "Look around, Tikki's power helps you identify what you need," Ladybug said, turning back to face the villain only to let out a yelp of surprise to see Bouclier just a meter in front of her. The woman gave her a smile, a plan clearly on her face. Ladybug stopped spinning the staff, holding it at the ready as she had seen Chat Noir do plenty of times before.

"Give me your earrings, and get out of my town," Bouclier ordered, holding out her free hand.

"Ladybug! The ground!" Chat Noir ordered as he used her yo-yo to swing upwards, holding onto the pillow with his free hand.

Putting her trust in Chat Noir, Ladybug swung the staff at Bouclier to knock her back before raising up her right hand. "Cataclysm!" She quickly dropped into a crouch and slammed the dark magic into the already damaged metal floor, causing the metal to rust to dust. As the ground started disappearing, Ladybug quickly jumped upwards. She caught her claws on the fence and watched over her shoulder as the floor disappeared out from under the Bouclier.

Chat Noir swung under the woman, feathers in his wake as he managed to put the pillow cover over her face. He grabbed hold of her and dropped to the ground.

Trusting him to land, Ladybug made her way down the leg of the Eiffel tower. She landed beside him, finding the Bouclier tied with her arms behind her back by the yo-yo's string and the polka-dotted pillow case on her head as she thrashed back and forth.

"All yours, ma'lady," Chat Noir said, giving her a bow.

Ladybug took a step around the Bouclier, taking the phone out of the woman's grip. "No more evil doing, little akuma," Ladybug said as she broke the phone in half.

She watched the dark butterfly fly out of the inner workings of the phone as the sound of the yo-yo retracting its string got her to pay attention back to the Bouclier. The woman dropped to her hands and knees as the dark magic left her dressed in her work cloths.

Chat Noir swung out the yo-yo, catching the butterfly before it could go any farther. "Gotcha!" Chat Noir announced, bringing the yo-yo back to himself. He clicked it open and watched as the now white butterfly flew away.

Ladybug grabbed the pillow case from where it had fallen off the woman's head and handed it to Chat Noir.

He gave her a smile as he took the pillow case from her hand before tossing it up in the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!" Chat Noir called out as the damaged sack turned into an army of magical ladybugs.

Ladybug watched as the magical little bugs fixed the Eiffel tower before flying off to fix everything else. She turned back to Chat Noir, his fist already outreached towards her. "Pound it," Ladybug said, his voice echoing hers as they fist bumped.

"What happened?" the Monoprix employee asked as she got up to her feet.

Ladybug opened her mouth to explain to the woman only for her earring to beep loudly. At that same moment Chat Noir's ring let out the same warning beep, getting him to hold his right hand. Ladybug looked at the woman, giving her an apologetic look. "Sorry, we've got to go." She pulled off the staff from its spot above her tail and pole vaulted upwards. She heard Chat Noir pulling out the yo-yo and swing off towards her right. Ladybug vaulted over the Seine and headed back towards the Monoprix. She could hear Chat Noir following silently some distance behind and remembered her theory for how their kwami got swapped. He might be heading to Monoprix as well.

Ladybug quickly found an arcade that ran to an alley way and dropped to the ground. She looked around to make sure no one was around before ordering, "Tikki, spots off." The realization hit her the moment those words were out of her mouth that it wouldn't work. Thinking Plagg's command worked similar to Tikki's, Ladybug ordered, "Plagg, claws in."

The magic stung as it took away the black cat costume until her earrings spat Plagg out. Quickly she reached out and caught Plagg before he could fall to the ground, the little spirit laying limp in her hands. "Plagg?" Marinette asked tentatively.

"I need food," Plagg said, the only sign of life being his moving mouth.

"What type? I think I still have some cook…" her voice fell away as she reached down only to find her purse missing. "Shoot. I forgot. It got knocked away in the attack," Marinette pulled Plagg close to her face and asked, "What do you eat?"

"Cheese, camembert is the best," Plagg informed, opening an eye to look at her.

"Don't worry Plagg, I'll get you something to eat and then you can find Chat Noir," Marinette pledged. She pulled back her jacket and slid him into the inside pocket before running out of the alley way.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Marinette made it back over to the intersection Monoprix sat at the corner of and noticed the clock reading a quarter to six. She let out a sigh as she realized Adrien should be heading home, but at least she still had an hour until she needed to be home. That gave her one hour to find some camembert cheese and everything that was on the list. Hopefully soon Chat Noir would be able to feed Tikki so she could come back to her.

"Marinette! There you are!" Alya's voice called out, drawing Marinette's attention to the four teens standing outside of the building. In her best friend's hand was Marinette's purse.

Marinette quickly made her way across the intersection and found herself in an embrace from Rose.

"Oh Marinette, we heard you had to be taken to an ambulance," Rose said as she released Marinette.

"Yeah, are you okay?" Nino asked, worry on his face.

Alya handed Marinette her purse back, letting Marinette toss it over her head. "Yeah, the magical ladybugs healed me right up," Marinette lied.

"Well come on, let's go get your list taken care of again," Alya said, leading the group back inside the Monoprix.

"And if we split up, we'll be able to get to that new shop before Marinette has to go home," Rose said.

Marinette let a smile pull at her face, glad she would be able to grab Plagg some cheese without the others noticing. "Then I'll get the milk, cheese, and yogurt again," Marinette offered.

"I'll get the eggs," Alya said. She looked at Nino and said, "You can handle the fruit."

"I'll get the bread again," Rose said, a smile on her face.

"And I'll get the chips and cocoa," Juleka offered.

Marinette pulled the list out of her purse and nodded her head, everything her mom needed covered. "Thanks."

Nino looked around and stopped walking, getting everyone else to stop with him. "When we've got everything, we can meet back here, in front of the candy."

"Somebody's sweet tooth is showing," Alya said with a laugh.

"Come on, let's hurry and get this all done," Rose said, grabbing Juleka's hand to pull her towards the bakery.

Alya looked back at Marinette, a sad look crossing her face. "Sorry Adrien had to leave."

"I wish his dad would give him his space," Nino offered. "I get that with being a model you have to be cautious but still."

"No, I think I can understand Mr. Agreste's side," Marinette offered, remembering the picture of Adrien's mom on the teen's desktop. "He's already lost his wife."

"True, but death is just a part of being human," Nino said. "Adrien can't be a normal kid 'cause his dad's overprotective."

"There's nothing we can do to change Mr. Agreste's mind right now," Alya pointed out, putting a hand on Nino's back. "Come on, let's go ahead and get those groceries." She started pushing Nino and called over her shoulder, "See you in a bit."

Marinette gave them a wave, waiting until they were out of sight before rushing back to the dairy section. As she searched through the cheeses, she reached into her jacket and found Plagg resting where she had left him in her inside pocket. She gently pulled him out and transferred him to her purse, saying quietly, "Once I pay for it, I'll put it in here for you."

She saw Plagg's little mouth open but couldn't hear his grunt of thanks.

Marinette turned her attention back to the cheeses as she closed her purse. She quickly found the cheese her mother had on the list before her eyes laid on the round camembert. She quickly grabbed it and headed over to the yogurts, finding the ones she had picked out before Hawkmoth's attack. She headed back towards the candy, grabbing the milk on her way, to find Nino and Alya already waiting.

"Rose and Juleka are coming, they're looking for the freshest," Alya offered, throwing a thumb over her shoulder towards the produce.

"Is that camembert?" Nino asked, pointing at the cheese Marinette had in her arms under the yogurt.

"Uh, yeah," Marinette nodded her head.

"Girl," Alya asked, eyeing her friend.

"What?" Marinette asked, confused as to her friends reactions.

Alya rolled her eyes over to Nino, a knowing smile on his face. She looked back to Marinette and asked, "Isn't that the type of cheese Adrien likes?"

"It is, isn't it?" Marinette mumbled, her face heating up as her mind wanted to run away with her. She shook the thoughts from her mind before saying, "It's not for me. Dad likes it sometimes."

"Sorry it took so long," Rose called out, drawing Marinette's attention behind Alya and Nino.

-.-.-.-

Marinette waved good bye as her friends headed to the new store without her. It was still early but she wanted Plagg to be heading off as early as possible. As soon as she could no longer see them she reached into the bag and pulled out the camembert. "Here you go, Plagg. Sorry it took so long," Marinette said, putting the small cheese wheel in her purse. She closed it, letting Plagg have some time to eat, as she let her mind wonder. As many times she had told Chat Noir they weren't supposed to know each other's identities, it still poked at her mind. He had to have been there with them. The problem solving part of her mind wanted to go through every guy there. She knew Nino wasn't Chat Noir since she was the one who gave him his miraculous. The only other guy with them was Adrien, but there was no way her sweet Adrien was the over the top Chat Noir. She rolled her eyes at the thought. It just had to be someone she didn't know, that's all.

She crossed the last street, passing the school, and walked through Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie's doors. Even though the store was relatively empty, only a woman looking through the sweets, she saw her mother quickly passing the register, behind the counter. Marinette offered a polite word to the woman, finding out she was just looking, before going passed the counter.

"There you are Marinette," Sabine said as her eyes rested on her daughter. She quickly kissed the girl's cheek and added, "When you put those up, could you help us down here?"

"Sure Mom," Marinette said, smiling at her parents working. She walked through the door and made her way up to the second floor, letting herself in. She sat the bag on the counter before opening up her purse only for the strong scent of camembert to be released. "Ohw, I forgot how bad that stuff smells," Marinette mumbled, waving her hand in front of her nose to try and disperse the smell. She looked into the bag and asked, "Plagg, how are you feeling now?" Inside her purse, resting in the container that had once held the cheese, was the small black kwami. He let out a burp, his arm draped over his stomach.

Plagg opened his eyes and looked up at her. He flew out of the bag and floated eye level with Marinette, a smile on his face. "Thanks for the snack."

"Thanks for the help," Marinette said, smiling at the kwami. She gave Plagg a little rub in between the ears, the little kwami letting out a pur. Taking her hand back, she said, "You better get going. Chat Noir'll be worried about you. And maybe you can help him send Tikki back home."

"She like's sweets, right?" Plagg checked.

"Chocolate chip cookies are her favorite," Marinette offered with a smile.

"Will do," Plagg said, nodding his head. He flew in a circle before her face before going straight up, through the ceiling.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Marinette flipped through the pages of her text book, trying to do her homework but failing to concentrate. She leaned her head on her palm, leaning on her desk, as she looked at her phone as it played through Jagged Stone's latest album. The top of the phone read 18:46. Her parents weren't due back until sometime after ten, but she figured Tikki would have come back by now.

She went ahead and closed the book, leaning back in her chair as she let out a grown. She knew she had to get this read for tomorrow's class but all she could think about was her missing kwami. Maybe there was a way Master Fu could locate her.

"Marinette! Marinette!" Tikki called out as the small red and black kwami phased through the window.

Marinette turned in the chair, sitting up and smiled as she exclaimed, "Tikki! You're alright."

"You need to transform, right away," Tikki said, her voice showing her panic.

"What? Why?"

"Somebody at Mr. Agreste's party was akumatized."

"Mom! Dad!" Marinette jumped to her feet, her hands curled into fists. She gave a look at Tikki before ordering, "Tikki, spots on."

Marinette felt the familiar spark of Tikki being sucked into her earrings before she was quickly transformed into Ladybug. Without much thought, Ladybug swung up over her bed and out the skylight, swinging over to Adrien's place. Sirens from the streets below caught her attention as she swung from one building to the next, the police going the same way she was. She turned her attention back to the roof she was landing on, recalling her yo-yo, and kept her momentum as she ran along the roof tops, avoiding smoke stacks and chimneys on the way. As she got closer to Adrien's gated house she could see a commotion building up outside with a mix of police and fire trucks.

Ladybug stopped on the roof top that looked towards the back of the Agreste mansion and crouched down to take in what was happening. Only seeing the emergency crews and onlookers, she slid the yo-yo's face plate down to call Chat Noir only for him to be calling her. One ring went out before she was able to answer his call.

"A little help, ma'lady?"

"Where are you?" Ladybug asked, mad there wasn't a video feed coming from the cat.

"In the kid's room, Adrien's room," Chat Noir said.

"On my way." Ladybug shut the yo-yo before throwing it at the house. She caught one of the spirals and swung around, aiming for the windows that led to Adrien's room. She landed on all fours against the glass and looked in, right away finding Chat Noir tied up at the top of the half pike with a rope around his neck, preventing him from jumping down without causing him more damage. "Chat Noir!" Ladybug exclaimed. He didn't move, making her think he couldn't hear her. She carefully crawled over to the window that she knew opened, holding tight to the yo-yo string with her left hand. She placed her feet on the stationary window, looking the window over to try and figure out how to force it open. She leaned back and jumped, swinging onto the window with her feet landing on the opening side.

She let out a startled sound, the window opening up a lot easier than she had expected. She flicked her wrist, the signal for the yo-yo to release its hold on the spiral, and landed on her feet. As she stood straight, the yo-yo retracted back into itself into her hand.

"Ladybug! It's a trap!" Chat Noir called out from his perch, careful to not turn his head too far.

Ladybug looked up at him, his green eyes showing only panic as behind her the window as slammed shut. She ripped around, her yo-yo already swinging in a shield. Situated with only a hand and foot on the glass was a person with green skin, their appendages looking more like lizard claws. The person let out a laugh, the voice sounding like Ladybug's own. "Well, wasn't that easy," the Mimic said, dropping down to the floor. The person eyed Ladybug up and down, placing a hand under their chin. "And to think you two are what keeps this gay ol' city safe, huh?"

"If he says this is a trap," Ladybug started, throwing her thumb at Chat Noir, "than where's the actual trap?"

"You're in it," the Mimic said, throwing their hands up to the ceiling as their voice turned back to what Ladybug guessed to be their own.

Ladybug looked at the lizard person a moment before looking back to the window. She stopped swinging her yo-yo in surprise at what she saw. Instead of the light sunset sky, it looked like it had gone straight to night, the stars blocked out.

"Now, give me your miraculous and I'll let you go save the guests of this party."

Ladybug turned sharply back to the Mimic to see they had put a feed of the ballroom on Adrien's computer screens.

Ladybug's eyes quickly went to Adrien, the blonde dressed sharply, in the back of the group of guests. The blonde's face showed a mix of panic and something else as he kept looking back and forth.

"Ladybug, it's a recording," Chat Noir called out from where he sat trapped.

"Huh?" Ladybug glanced over to the black clad teen before returning her eyes to the feed.

"Watch them, they're repeating," Chat Noir pointed out.

Ladybug focused on Mayor Bourgeois standing next to, what looked like the president, only to notice a small jump in their movements. She swung the yo-yo hard, quickly getting it back to act as a shield, as she turned back to having her attention on the Mimic only to flip backwards, avoiding the Mimic as a reptile-like hand was close to pulling out an earring.

Ladybug found herself dodging out of the range of the Mimic as they reached again and again for her earrings. As she played keep-away, Ladybug searched for what the akuma had possessed. "What have you done to the guests?" Ladybug asked, throwing the yo-yo at the Mimic to try and tie them up only for the yo-yo to get smacked away with fast reflex.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about the guests," the Mimic threw off. "They think everything's been taken care of by now."

"Then why did you get akumatized?" Ladybug asked, unsure if they would even answer a question like that when she noticed around the Mimic's neck was a stiff necklace. The metal band going around a dark purple perk, it not fitting with the akumatized reptile ideal.

"Because I hate you," the Mimic said, simply. They gave Ladybug a smile as they stopped advancing and leaned against Adrien's foosball table. "Hawkmoth gave me the best answer to my biggest problem, how could I say no?"

"You're Brigitte Casla's kid, Annick Casla!" Chat Noir exclaimed.

"No!" They stood up straight, stomping their food against the floor. "I'm the Mimic. I'll take you two out and take over, giving Paris and the world the superhero they need." The Mimic gave Chat Noir a smile, raising up a hand to create a ball of black energy in the palm of their hand.

Recognizing the danger Chat Noir was in, if the Mimic decided to take away the half pike out from under him, Ladybug threw her yo-yo up in the air. "Lucky charm!" Ladybug ordered, catching out of the corner of her eye the Mimic freezing. The ladybug magic dropped out a baseball that fell into Ladybug's opened hands.

"Oh the famous Ladybug pitch," the Mimic said, the energy dissipating back into their palm.

Ladybug looked around Adrien's room, trying to find what she was supposed to do with a baseball. Instead of the ladybug power helping her out, she noticed the Mimic shaking their head before throwing a ball of energy at Chat Noir.

Ladybug vaguely realized she had called out Chat Noir's name as the half pike was taken out from under him, leaving his hanging by his neck with his hands tied behind his back. Without too much thought, Ladybug threw the baseball at the ceiling where the rope came out of. The ball burst through the ceiling plaster and managed to knock the rope free, letting Chat Noir fall to the ground in a black heap.

Ladybug quickly turned her attention back to the Mimic to find them advancing again towards her. She pulled her head back as she reached forwards, grabbing hold of the gem encircled in the metal. Giving her wrist a sharp flick, Ladybug heard the metal crack along the back of the Mimic's neck before the akumatized person fell to their knees.

Ladybug quickly grabbed the yo-yo and sliced the cover in half before throwing it at the dark butterfly flying just above Annick. "Gotcha," Ladybug exclaimed as the yo-yo encased the akumaitzed bug. She flicked the yo-yo back to herself and clicked it open, freeing the white butterfly.

She noticed Annick going back to what they normally looked like, the person's short cut brown hair long enough to cover her shoulders as her suit appeared through the lizard theme. She walked over to where Chat Noir had fallen but instead of finding a knocked out boy or even a rope, the space that had held the half pike now stood empty. Ladybug knelt down and picked up the baseball, realizing Chat Noir hadn't been in the room at all. Tossing the baseball up in the air, she called out, "Miraculous Ladybug" only to find the magical little bugs surrounding her and Annick. The bugs released her in Adrien's real room, the blonde dressed in a stylish suit as he startled at the sight of Ladybug and Annick appearing in his room.

"What?" Adrien started to ask only to cut himself off.

Ladybug found herself giving Adrien a smile before their eyes locked. Ladybug turned her attention sharply back to Annick, the young teen getting to their feet with confusion on their face. Ladybug took the step over to Annick and offered the now fixed necklace that she still held as she asked, "Are you alright?"

"Huh, Ladybug?" Annick said, their eyes going wide. They looked around before turning back to Ladybug. "Thanks, sorry," they offered, taking the necklace back.

"They're looking for you," Adrien said, offering Annick towards the door, He turned back to look at Ladybug as her earrings let out a warning sound. "Uhm, are you getting called?" Adrien asked, pointing a finger towards Ladybug's ear.

Ladybug put a hand on her ear before hardening her feature. "Yeah, um, bug out," Ladybug offered, pulling off her yo-yo. She turned around, the window already open, and swung out. Taking in the sun setting over Paris, Ladybug made short work of getting back to her loft. She dropped down, through the sky light, and called out, "Tikki, spots off."

Marinette landed on her bed, holding out her hands for Tikki to land on. A smile grew on her face as she looked her friend over. "It's so good to have you back home," Marinette offered, finding her cheek getting hugged by Tikki.

"It's good to be home, Marinette," Tikki said, releasing the hug.


	7. Chapter 7

Part 2: A Cat's Perspective

Chapter 7

When we last saw our cat hero…

"Cataclysm!" Ladybug ordered, her black gloved right hand glowing in the dark magic Plagg controlled. She quickly dropped into a crouch and slammed the hand into the already damaged floor of the Eiffel tower's second platform. The metal quickly rusted to dust as Chat Noir flung the yo-yo up and swung into the hole to catch the now falling Bouclier, letting the feathers fall out of the damaged ladybug pillowcase. With the Bouclier in his arms as he dropped to the ground he put the pillowcase over her head. He landed on the ground, careful of the akumatized woman, and quickly used the yo-yo to tie her hands behind her back as she thrashed about.

"All yours, ma'lady," Chat Noir offered with a bow as the black clad girl dropped to the ground. He stepped back, keeping his hands around the magic yo-yo's string in case the Bouclier decided to try something. He watched as Ladybug walked around the older girl to take the phone out of her left hand.

"No more evil doing, little akuma," Ladybug said as she crack the phone in half.

The dark bug flew out of the inner workings of the phone as Chat Noir let the Bouclier's hands go, flicking the yo-yo back to himself. He remembered all the previous times he had seen Ladybug do this, running his finger down the center of the yo-yo's top to create the wings of the little bug. He swung out the yo-yo, catching the butterfly before it could go any farther. "Gotcha," Chat Noir announced as he flicked the yo-yo back to himself. He clicked it open and watched the now white butterfly fly away.

He turned at movement from Ladybug and found her handing him the pillowcase. He gave her a smile as he took it from her before throwing it upwards. "Miraculous Ladybug!" Chat Noir called out as the damaged sack turned into an army of magical ladybugs.

Chat Noir turned his eyes to his Ladybug as the little ones fixed all the damages caused by the akumatized woman. He raised his fist as she turned to him and said, "Pound it," as they bumped fists.

"What happened?" the Monoprix employee asked as she got to her feet.

Chat Noir noticed Ladybug about to say something when simultaneously beeping sounded from both of them. He held his right hand in his left, worried Tikki would have more of a problem with having lower energy than Plagg with her not being in her proper miraculous.

"Sorry, we've gotta go," Ladybug offered as she pulled off the staff from its spot right above her tail and pole vaulted upwards.

Chat Noir gave the woman an apologetic look before running after Ladybug, ripping out the yo-yo to grab hold of the closest corner of the Cité de L'architecture et du Patrimoine. He knew he had to get back to the Monoprix, if only to at least let his friends know he was alright, only to realize he was following Ladybug. He wanted to call out, ask her about who she was under the mask again, only to bite his tongue.

Ladybug made a quick turn, Chat Noir's eyes following her as she dropped down and out of sight. He dropped down onto a roof and looked down, tempted to follow her, until his ring let out another beep. Quickly he swung out the yo-yo and flung himself closer to the Monoprix before dropping down on the building's roof as Tikki's power ran out.

A similar sting, like a quick attack of pins and needles, covered his body as the red and black suit disappeared. With practiced reflex, he caught Tikki's fallen form as she was forced out of his ring.

"Tikki?" Adrien asked, worried at the sight of the little kwami's limp form.

A shiver ran through-out her body as she mumbled something too quiet for him to make out.

"What?" Adrien asked, his stomach turning over at how helpless he felt. "Do you need some food? As soon as we get home, I'll get you whatever you need." His eyes lingered on the little bug-like kwami a moment longer before gently placing her in the inside pocket of his jacket where Plagg usually rested. He pulled out his cell phone as he opened the door that led to the stairs down to see it was already five minutes till six. He let the door close itself behind him as he pocketed his phone. He dropped down the steps, some two by two. If he could make it home when his father asked him to, maybe he'd let Adrien go out more on his own. He just hoped he could find his friends to let them know he had to leave.

Adrien burst through the ground floor's doors and found the ladybugs had done their job like always, regressing the store back to what it had looked like before the attack. Not finding his friends, he rushed outside, hoping to at least find one and tell them- Nino! Adrien could make out that red hat anywhere. He rushed over to the hat wearing teen and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Adrien!" Nino exclaimed, turning around to see the blonde teen.

"I've gotta get going, has everyone been found?" Adrien asked, taking his hand back.

"Marinette's still missing," Nino offered as Alya led Rose and Juleka over.

"Ladybug said she took her to an ambulance," Alya said.

"If Ladybug said she was getting help than at least that means she's okay," Adrien said, trusting fully in his co-heroine. "If you see her, tell her I'm sorry I had to leave."

"Will do," Alya nodded her head, her hands playing with the string of Marinette's purse.

"Go on and get going so your dad doesn't have your head for dinner," Nino said, freeing Adrien to start running.

Adrien let out a laugh over his shoulder as he turned and started for home.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Adrien quickly walked through the main door to his home, hoping with all the commotion his father wouldn't notice he was five minutes late. Security personnel dressed in black were all over the main foyer and the doorway to the ballroom showed even more there as they finished their preparations for the dinner tonight. Not seeing his bodyguard or even Natalie, Adrien quickly ran up the steps and put his hand on his door only to freeze at the sound of his name. He turned around, seeing his father tying a new scarf under his collar. He gave the man an apologetic smile, not sure what to say to him.

"You're late," Gabriel said as he tucked the scarf into the top of his vest.

"Sorry," Adrien offered, his smile gone. "I didn't think it would take as long as it did to walk."

"Maybe next time hail a cab," Gabriel said coldly before turning around to walk back into his room on the other side of the balcony.

A smile crept onto his face, Adrien barely able to keep the excitement contained. _Next time? There would be a next time?_ Giving himself the small satisfaction of fist bumping the air, Adrien quickly rushed into his room. He stopped beside his bed, carefully pulling out Tikki to lay her on his pillow. The excitement of what the future might bring dissipated from his mind as he looked at her pitiful form. "What food do you need?" Adrien asked, hoping the little kwami would be able to answer a little louder than before.

"Cook…"Tikki tried to get out, her eye lid twitching slightly.

"Cook?" Adiren echoed, trying to figure it out. "Do you need me to cook you something?"

A loud knock at the door got Adrien to jump, quickly covering Tikki up with the comforter. He turned around to see Natalie walking in with a dress bag draped over one arm and a hat box in the other hand. "Here you are, Adrien. Your father wants you ready at 6:30 to start greeting the early guests," Natalie said, laying out the dress bag on his bed and sitting the hat box beside it. "And remember, the president is among the guests to arrive tonight."

"Is there any way I can get a snack? Something warm?" Adrien asked, hoping that's what Tikki meant.

Natalie gave him a look he had seen many times before when she was deciding if his father would allow something. She slightly nodded her head, saying, "I'll see what I can send up."

"Thanks Natalie," Adrien said, giving her a smile as she turned to leave his room.

Once the door clicked shut Adrien carefully pulled back the blanket to check on the kwami. Worry gripped at him, the little spirit barely moving. He laid the blanket back over her and picked up the dress bag by the hanger. He checked the spot he knew Tikki laid under, making sure that when whomever would come to drop off her snack wouldn't notice her, before walking over to his bathroom. He slid the door shut and hung the dress bag on the hook on the wall, absentmindedly unzipping it to show a blue suit with gray accents.

His mind wondered to Plagg, wondering if Ladybug was having the same problems he was. He took off his cloths and tossed them aside for now, going over to the shower to turn the water on. As he stood under the raining faucet, it dawned on him how they had gotten into this problem in the first place. Ladybug had to have been in the Monoprix when Hawkmoth attacked.

Adrien shook his head, water running into his eyes at the realization. Quickly clearing his eyes, he reached for the soap to hurry up and get clean.

But that meant he should have seen her. He knew a little more about her than Alya and her Lady Blog did, like that even though Ladybug had been around for thousands of years; that just meant Tikki was that old. So Ladybug herself was probably about his age; that history book Alya found added proof to that. Though that didn't prove she went to Françoise Dupont, he had used the same history book before attending school. Tourillon Fellali makes a lot of text books.

Adrien washed the soap off and turned the water off. He stepped out of the shower and reached for his towel as he found himself longing to know who the girl of his dreams, who it was he put so much trust in, was. He knew they both had been told they weren't supposed to know but secrets haven't applied to her. She knew who Rena Rouge and Carapase was. And all of Paris knew who Queen Bee was. Adrien found himself rolling his eyes at just the thought of that incident. He rubbed his hair in the towel to dry it enough to use the hair drier as he asked himself, _Shouldn't it be time we knew each other's identities?_

Adrien let the towel fall to the floor and reached for the hair dryer on the counter as a plan formed in his head. He knew if Ladybug found out, she'd be furious, but he had to know. He had asked politely numerous times, now he just had to wait for the next attack.

He paused in drying his hair, looking up at the reflection in the mirror as he realized what he was wishing for. For Hawkmoth to attack gain. He hardened his features as he went back to drying his hair. Hawkmoth wouldn't just give up. There's always going to be a next attack.

Turning off the hair dryer, he ran a hand through his hair before sitting down the dryer to get dressed. He hoped Natalie had been able to send something up for him. As he slid on the jacket, he opened the door and walked out of the bathroom. He looked around and gladly found a cloche sitting on the coffee table in front of the sofa. Adrien briskly walked over to the bed, removing the blanket to reveal Tikki just as he left her.

"Come on, Tikki, they brought up some cooked food," Adrien said, carefully scooping her out of the pillow. He carried her in both hands over to the sofa, laying her on the cushion, before turning around to reveal what had been brought up. Five rolled up feuilletés aperitifs sat on the plate, still warm. He picked one up and sat it beside Tikki, hoping she would eat it.

Tikki slowly opened an eye, her nose twitching, before she let out a moan. Worry built up as he thought she wouldn't eat any of it.

"Man, does Ladybug have the hots for you!" Plagg announced as he flew in through the window. "Well, not Chat Noir you, just Adrien you."

"Plagg, she won't eat," Adrien said, what Plagg said not even retaining in his mind.

Plagg stopped in the air beside Adrien's head to look at the pigs in a blanket and back to Tikki. "There's your problem. She likes sweets, particularly cookies-"

"Cook_ies_!" Adrien cut off, jumping to his feet. He hurriedly made his way up to the loft and rushed over to the bean bag chair, grabbing a bag of cookies he had stashed there. He made his way back down as fast as he humanly could, wishing he always had Plagg's powers. He stopped next to Tikki and opened the bag, pulling out two of the chocolate chip cookies. "Here you go, Tikki," Adrien said, sitting one of the cookies before her as he carefully pushed the second one closer. A smile pulled at his cheeks as she stated to eat it. He place the bag of cookies beside the feuilletés aperitifs as a knock sounded from the door.

Plagg quickly hid in Adrien's suit jacket as he moved over to block any view of Tikki. Natalie opened the door and said, "Guests have started to arrive. Your father wants you down stairs to great them."

"I'll be down in a moment," Adrien said, watching her close the door as she left. He turned around to see Tikki still looking weak but had turned to eat the cookie better. He pulled the jacket edge open, getting Plagg to float out. "Can you watch her until she's well enough to head home?"

Plagg looked at the little she-kwami before nodding his head. He looked back at Adrien and said, "Yeah. I'll find you once she's gone."

"Thanks," Adrien said, turning to get his hat.

"You owe me," Plagg pointed out, leaning back in the air as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"The slinkiest wheel of camembert," Adrien promised, nodding his head as he opened the hat box and placed the hat on his head. He closed his eyes and took a breath, trying to get himself in the model mindset the people downstairs were expecting of him. Opening his eyes, he threw a look over at the sofa, able to hear the tiny voice of Plagg talking to Tikki. He couldn't make out what the two were saying to each other but he could tell they were old friends, now able to catch up while Tikki was recovering.

Adrien walked out of his room, closing his door behind himself, only for the sound of voices rising up from the lower floor. It had only just now struck six: thirty, but it sounded like everyone was already here. He made his way down the steps with the grace he had learned from years of being a male model and gave a polite smile to the couple that had just left being welcomed by his father.

"Apparently I haven't taught punctuality well enough with you," Gabriel said as Adrien took his spot on the man's right side.

"Sorry Father, I thought everyone would get her closer to seven," Adrien admitted, worried this might hurt his chances of going out again with his friends.

"These are the people who want to be here before the president arrives at seven," Gabriel pointed out as another vehicle pulled to a stop outside the open doors.

Adrien turned his eyes from his father only to have his spirits fall as Mayor Bourgeois stepped out of the back of the limo before a blonde could make her appearance. "Could I go and greet the guests I missed?" Adrien asked, hoping to disappear before Chloé could call out her pet name for him.

"I thought you and Miss Bourgeois were friends," Gabriel offered.

"Friends, sure but she doesn-"

"Adrikins!" Chloé exclaimed, somehow making her way to wrap her arms around Adrien's neck without running in her golden high heels.

Adrien patter her shoulders, wishing she would let go, as he said, "Hey, Chloé, you left school so early today, I thought you wouldn't show up."

Chloé took her arms away and patter the side of her blonde hair, it up in a fashionable bee's nest. Adrien knew that wasn't what the style was called but that's what it reminded him of. "Oh, I had to go get my hair done," Chloé informed, looking at him as she dropped her arms to her side. "It's not every day you get to meet the president of France."

"True," Adrien nodded his head politely. He looked at Mayor Bourgeois as he said something polite to Gabriel before asking Chloé, "Is your mother not coming?"

"She said she wasn't feeling well," Chloé said, crossing her arms over her chest as she threw her eyes to her father.

"…sends her regrets, Mr. Agreste," Mayor Bourgeois offered, clearly talking about the same woman.

"Excuse me, Mr. Agreste," a secret service man said, stopping on Gabriel's left side. "He's arriving early. The car just left."

"Thank you." Gabriel nodded his head at the man.

"Oh, I do hope everything's up to his standards," Chloé said, scrutiny on her face as she looked to the ballroom. Her eyes followed the secret service personal as he disappeared into the already busy room.

"Come on, Chloé dear, let's go ahead and join everyone," Mayor Bourgeois said, placing a hand on the small of her back.

"You will join me later, won't you?" Chloé asked over her shoulder.

Adrien gave her a smile, secretly glad she was walking out of sight for now at least. He turned away from watching her and her father's retreating form as a door closing caught his attention. Walking up the steps was two models he was well acquainted with, not surprised his father invited them.

"Brigitte, so glad you could make it," Gabriel said as he gave the tall blonde a hug.

Adrien turned his eyes to the girl his age that stood in front of him and nodded his head, knowing the girl in the pants ouji didn't care to be as clingy as their mother was. "Hey Annick," Adrien offered, the two exchanging cheek kisses.

Annick took a step back and put a hand on their hip. "So you still go to that school? The one Chloé goes to?"

"Yeah, it's nice to be around other people," Adrien offered, noticing Annick's mother must still be trying to make her daughter more feminine by giving her a hard metal necklace with a purple stone held in its curl at the front.

Annick offered him one of their half smiles, the closest they every got to a real smile, before it quickly vanished at her mother's voice. "And how are you, Adrien?" Brigitte asked, forcing her way in between the two teens to hug the boy.

"Good as always, Miss Brigitte," Adrien offered, dealing with the woman's hug like he usually did.

Brigitte broke away, freeing Adrien to take a step back politely, as she said, "Come on, Annick. Let's go see who all has arrived."

Adrien watched as the two walked away, leaving only the sound that emulated from the ball room to fill the foyer. A breeze came in the front door, reminding him of the nice spring day it had turned out to be. A part of him was happy to have fresh air in the stuffy house again, only for melancholy to shadow the feeling. Almost a year ago this is how the house would be every spring and summer day. Any day his mother could open as many windows as possible and throw open the doors, she would.

"You're thinking about her, aren't you?"

Adrien sharply turned to look up at his father, surprise clearly on his face.

Gabriel kept his eyes to the entry way, keeping watch for the president's motorcade as Adrien found his brain slow to comprehend what his father had just said.

Adrien turned his eyes back to looking outside, letting out a sound of confirmation, not sure what there was to say to the man beside him.

"We'll find her," Gabriel offered, his voice almost too quiet to hear.

Adrien was just about to open his mouth, taking the rare occasion for what it was, only to be cut off as Gabriel said, "There they are. Look sharp."

Quickly Adrien ran a hand past his forehead, checking to make sure his hair was in place under the brim of his hat, all thoughts of his mother put to the back of his mind as police motorcycles slowed to a stop outside of the gate. An armored Citroën C6 drove through the gateway and up the round driveway. The Chat Noir part of his mind realized how easy it could be for Hawkmoth to akumatize the president. For now he would just have to hope and pray nothing like that happened. Though he would feel better if Plagg was back. Hopefully Tikki was getting well enough to head home.

The Citroën pulled to a stop outside the steps, letting the valet open the back passenger door. A man with dirty blonde hair stepped out before holding out a hand to help a woman with short blonde hair get out of the car. The woman flashed her husband a smile as thanks, linking her arm in his. The two walked up the stairs as a secret service man made a comment into his mic.

As soon as they stepped through the doorway, Gabriel greeted them with, "Mr. President, Madam First Lady, so glad you could come." After a brisk handshake he turned to receive kisses from the First Lady.

Adrien politely smiled as he shook the president's hand, quickly finding himself receiving kisses from the first lady as Gabriel offered, "This is my son, Adrien. I apologies I have to stay here for a bit longer to greet the remainder of my guests, but Adrien can take you to the dining hall."

"This way, please," Adrien offered, motioning with his hand towards the ball room. After being born into modeling, he didn't usually find himself nervous around important people or celebrities, but even with the president and first lady walking beside him, he found himself reminding the back of his mind that this was the leader of France. The three walked into the ball room, letting Adrien finally see it now that it was prepared for the evening. Round tables edged the walls, leaving the center opened for dancing as live musicians played from the center far wall. He quickly looked for the mayor, figuring him the best person to take over introducing such important people when he noticed Annick angrily watching something from their phone as they took residence at one of the tables.

Reminding himself who he was looking for, he swiftly lead the two over to the large man who was talking to someone Adrien guessed to be political.

"Mayor Bourgeois, how nice to see you again," the First lady said, clearly having already met before.

Adrien sensed their conversation just starting, nodding his head at them politely to excuse himself. He turned back to go and talk to Annick only to see the table empty of any person, just a cell phone abandoned. He walked over to the table, picking up the phone as he looked around for its owner. He quickly laid eyes on Annick's mother, the woman talking to Chloé as the girl gave him a smile. Adrien flashed her a smile that quickly disappeared as he kept looking for Annick. Something felt off but he didn't know what.

"You're all stupid Parisians!" a voice called out loud enough to stop the music and chatter as it laughed in a familiar voice. "Why do you look up to two freaks of nature? Why do you look up to those who are the same as the city's enemy?"

Adrien side stepped with the secret service to stand closer to the President and his wife, not sure what he should do with Plagg still being with Tikki. He looked around at the ceiling where the voice seemed to emanate from as the house security bolted down the windows.

A motion at the corner of his vest got his attention as Plagg took residents in the layer of cloth. Silently Adrien took that as his chance, sliding Annick's phone into his pocket until he found them, as he snuck past the frightened group to a hidden space behind the band's decretive backdrop. He pulled at the collar of the vest, getting Plagg to fly out. "How's Tikki?" Adrien quickly asked.

"Not totally back to normal, but already on her way to get Ladybug," Plagg filled in. "A green girl took a girl in a pants suit to your room and locked the door."

"Annick!" Adrien realized quickly.

AN: And I still cut this chapter because I felt bad about how long it had become


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Adrien quickly made sure no one could see him standing behind the black drop for the band before raising up his right hand and ordered, "Plagg, claws out."

The black kwami found himself sucked into the ring, his dark magic turning Adrien into Chat Noir. He poked his head out from behind the backdrop to see everyone was focused on keeping the president safe, a whine loud enough to be heard over the commotion from Chloé.

Chat Noir stepped back behind the backdrop and turned to go into the kitchen door hidden away from view. He let the door close behind him, a hand catching it behind his back to prevent it from making a sound, as he took in the kitchen staff. Marinette's parents stood, frozen, with their eyes on him as the wait staff looked prepared using the kitchen knives and rolling pins as weapons.

"Chat Noir, how did you-?" Tom asked, cutting himself off.

"She's taken a hostage in m-the boy's room," Chat Noir informed. "I can't get in through the door, is there another way to his room?" He felt weird asking such a question, not even sure if Natalie knew about the beginnings of a dumbwaiter from the kitchen to his room.

"I believe this does, but it was never finished," one of the waiters that usually worked Gabriel's functions offered, sliding open the small doorway in the wall.

Chat Noir walked over, already pulling the pole off of its spot on his back. He stuck his head in, looking up to see if he could see how high it went up. He remembered finding it a few years ago, it hidden behind a poster he never remembered putting up. Pulling his head back out he gave the waiter a quick, "thank you," before throwing his legs into the hole. He sat on the ledge, careful of his head as the top of the hole could be felt on the back of his neck, and enlarged the pole downwards till it hit the concrete slab below. He pulled his tail into the vertical tunnel and rose upwards on the pole, keeping an eye for the opening with Plagg's power. He quickly found it in the dark and slid open the hatch, pushing aside the poster. His eyes quickly fell on the green skinned girl as she was resting her foot on Annick's back, Annick tied up on the floor. He dropped into a balanced stance, his pole quickly retracting to only five feet long, as he ordered, "Release her, now."

The green skinned reptile like person looked over at Chat Noir as they rolled their eyes. "Finally, what took you so long?" They stepped off of Annick and flicked a webbed hand towards the limp form only for it to disappear.

"Where'd they go?" Chat Noir asked, worried for the person he had called friend.

"You sure are dumb," the akumitized said with a laugh. They placed a hand on their hip and informed, "This was all a trap. I am the Mimic and I will be the one to defeat you." The Mimic snapped their fingers together, creating a noose around Chat Noir's neck.

Instantly Chat Noir reached up, scared of what could happen, only for the noose to tighten the closer his hands got to it.

"Uh, uh, uhu," the Mimic said, stepping over so she stood in front of him. With a sudden blur of movement, Chat Noir quickly found his hands tied behind his back and the Mimic standing there with his pole in hand. They looked straight into Chat Noir's green eyes, their eyes a darker shade than humanly normal, as they ordered, "Get up on the half pike."

Careful of the rope around his neck, Chat Noir turned his head towards the right to see they had created a step ladder up to the top of the half pike. He turned back to look at her and growled, "What are you planning?"

The Mimic just gave him a laugh, pointing a finger up to the part of the rope that appeared to come out of the ceiling. To Chat Noir's surprise, the rope pulled him backwards, choking him as it pulled him up to the top of the half pike. Black spots took over his vision as he felt the top of the half pike beneath his butt, the pressure releasing as he was set down. He found himself gasping for air, his lungs desperate as the black spots cleared. He looked down at her only to find them sending out a call to Ladybug. Only one ring let out before, in Chat Noir's voice, they said, "A little help, ma'lady?"

"Where are you?" Ladybug's voice asked, sounding frustrated.

"In the kid's room, Adrien's room," they said, keeping up the charades.

"On my way," Ladybug said, ending the call.

"She won't fall for it," Chat Noir said, glaring down at the Mimic.

"Why wouldn't she?" the Mimic asked, throwing the pole over to the floor by the bed. "Believing you're trapped, which you are, she'll come and rescue you." They looked up at him, Chat Noir now seeing the necklace around their neck, and crossing their arms over their chest. "That's what superheroes do, isn't it?" The Mimic looked over at the window, as if something had caught their attention there. They rushed beyond where Chat Noir dared to look, fearing the rope around his neck.

Chat Noir could hear something against the glass before it burst open. In the reflection of his computer screens, Chat Noir made out the slim form of Ladybug. She stood tall, yo-yo out and ready for a fight. "Ladybug, it's a trap!" Chat Noir called out, trying to turn his head to look at her. He could feel the panic building up, worried for what the Mimic might do to her.

Ladybug looked up at him in surprise as the window was slammed shut. She ripped around, yo-yo already swinging in a shield.

The Mimic balanced against the glass, a smug smile on their face clear in the screen's reflection. They said in Ladybug's voice, "Well, wasn't that easy." The Mimic dropped to the floor before looking Ladybug over, placing a hand under their chin. "And to think you two are what keeps this gay ol' city safe, huh?"

"If he says this is a trap," Ladybug started, throwing her thumb at Chat Noir, "than where's the actual trap?"

"You're in it," the Mimic said, throwing their hands up to the ceiling as their voice turned back to their own.

Chat Noir could see Ladybug looking at the Mimic a moment before looking back to the window. The reflection wasn't clear enough for him to see what she saw, but whatever it was stopped her spinning her yo-yo.

"Now, give me your miraculous and I'll let you go save the guests of this party."

The Mimic flicked a hand towards the screens, causing Chat Noir to lose sight of Ladybug as a recording appeared from when the Mimic had called all Parisians stupid. Quickly Chat Noir found himself standing close to the President and First Lady, only to quickly notice it was a loop like a short gif. "Ladybug, it's a recording," Chat Noir called out, not sure if she would notice the small inconsistency.

"Huh?" Ladybug asked.

"Watch them, they're repeating," Chat Noir pointed out.

Ladybug focused on the screen for a moment before swinging the yo-yo hard, quickly getting it humming at the speed she spun it. The screen went black again, letting Chat Noir see her back flip to avoid the Mimic's hand reaching towards her earrings. As sounds of what seemed like keep-away played out between the two, Ladybug asked, "What have you done to the guests?" She threw the yo-yo only for it to get smack away and sound against the floor.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about the guests," the Mimic threw off. "They think everything's been taken care of by now."

"Then why did you get akumatized?" Ladybug asked.

"Because I hate you," the Mimic said, simply. They stopped advancing and leaned against Adrien's foosball table. "Hawkmoth gave me the

best answer to my biggest problem, how could I say no?"

"You're Brigitte Casla's kid, Annick Casla!" Chat Noir exclaimed as the necklace finally clicked in his mind.

"No!" They stood up straight, stomping their food against the floor. "I'm the Mimic. I'll take you two out and take over, giving Paris and the world the superhero they need."

The Mimic turned to face Chat Noir, giving him a smile as they raised up a hand to create a ball of black energy in the palm of their hand.

Quickly Ladybug threw her yo-yo up in the air. "Lucky charm!" Ladybug ordered as the Mimic froze. The ladybug magic dropped out a baseball that fell into Ladybug's opened hands.

"Oh the famous Ladybug pitch," the Mimic said, the energy dissipating back into their palm.

Ladybug looked around the room, trying to find what she was supposed to do with a baseball.

Chat Noir noticed the Mimic taking Ladybug's distraction and recreated the ball of energy as they shook their head. Quickly they tossed it below Chat Noir.

"Chat Noir!" Ladybug's voice called out as the half pike disappeared out from under him. The rope pulled taught against his throat, cutting out the scream of surprise that tried to come out. The black dots came back as he fought for air, blocking out his vision completely as his senses left him.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Chat Noir first heard the click of Ladybug's yo-yo before hearing her say, "Gotcha." It felt like it happened slower than it normally did as his hearing came back to him. Slowly he realized he laid on the ground, his face on the floor where the half pike should be. The rope around his neck disappeared just as the bonds holding his hands did, freeing him to push himself up.

Quickly he realized Adrien himself might be missing for a longer period of time than he should be if the Mimic was telling the truth. He glanced over at Ladybug, the girl only now releasing the white butterfly back into the air. While she was looking upwards, Chat Noir quickly hid himself in the stop beside the door and whispered, "Plagg, claws in."

Adrien felt the magic release him, Plagg quietly hiding in his vest as he had earlier. He pushed himself against the wall as tight as he could as he heard Ladybug call out, "Miraculous Ladybug!"

The ladybugs flew over him, bringing him out of the small hiding spot beside the door and over to stand beside where Annick sat on the floor.

"Wha-?" Adrien asked, surprised by being teleported by the bugs. He looked at Ladybug, their eyes locking for a moment as she gave him a smile.

She sharply turned her attention back to Annick, the teen getting to their feet with confusion on their face. Ladybug took the step over to Annick and offered the necklace that had been what the akuma had taken over back to the teen as she asked, "Are you alright?"

"Huh, Ladybug?" Annick asked, their eyes going wide. They looked around before stopping on Ladybug. "Thanks, sorry," they offered, taking the necklace back.

"They're looking for you," Adrien said, offering Annick towards the door as they put the necklace back on. He turned back to look at ladybug as her earrings let out a warning sound. "Uhm, are you getting called?" Adrien asked, remembering what the public thought that it signaled.

Ladybug put a hand on her ear before hardening her features. "Yeah, uhm, bug out," Ladybug offered, pulling out her yo-yo. She turned around and swung out the opened window, leaving the two alone.

"Hey, here's your phone," Adrien said, pulling it out of his pocket as a crazy plan formed in his mind. "You might want to go and let your mom know you're okay."

Annick took the phone, giving him a smile as they said, "Thanks." The teen gave Adrien one last look before leaving the room.

As the door closed behind them, Adrien quickly ordered, "Plagg, claws out!"

Plagg let out a sound of surprise as he was sucked out of Adrien's vest and into the ring, transforming him once again into Chat Noir.

As soon as he could, Chat Noir grabbed the pole off its place on his back and pole vaulted out of the still open window. He made his way to the roof top of the houses across the street and caught a glimpse of her red jumpsuit in the twilight heading towards the school. He ran across the roof tops on all fours, keeping a distance but still keeping sight or scent of her. He knew it was against what they were told, but he had to know. He had to know the girl behind the mask of the one that held his heart.

Chat Noir skidded to a stop as he saw Ladybug fly higher into the air than she would for covering distance only to see her drop through the roof of the patisserie beside the school. "Why is she going to Marinette's?" Chat Noir asked himself. He quickly got up to his feet and bound over to the roof top patio, finding the sky light open as he perched silently on the railing.

"It's so good to have you back home," Ladybug's voice said from just below the open window.

"It's so good to be home, Marinette," Tikki said.

Chat Noir gripped the fence tighter with his hands as he struggled to believe his ears. "Marinette is Ladybug?" he found himself whispering to no one. Realizing he said it aloud, and that he would defiantly be missed from the party by now, Chat Noir jumped off the railing and up to the roof to make his way back home.

-.-.-.-

Adrien walked over to his bed, feeling it long past when he should've gone to sleep with everything that had happened in a day. He wasn't sure what to make of the knowledge he had learned as he finished buttoning up his pajama shirt. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked out the window when what Plagg had said earlier reappeared in his mind. He looked over at the pillows, seeing the black kwami asleep on his pillow. But what was he supposed to do with that knowledge?

AN: this is as far as this had gotten written. I feel even worst about that now that only in this month it has been reaching the thousands in times people have opened it to read. Please accept my apologies as I had already promised the Code Lyoko fans a re-write of Exchange students and have already finished 2 Adventures of Link stories (one main and one sidequest). I won't forget about this story though I have a total of 35 chapters to post so *looking at calendar* so…February? I might push Exchange Student down because the re-write isn't complete. That would cut out 15 weeks as of right now. I'm sorry. This is what happens when I'm a fan of many stories.


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